Trademark Registration

The question

A trademark turns a name or logo into a right you can enforce. Using a sign can build some unregistered protection, but it is narrow, hard to prove and limited in territory. Registration gives you a clear right in the territory concerned and a basis to act against later conflicting marks.

The questions that come with it are practical. Where should you register: Benelux, the European Union, or further afield? Which goods and services should the application cover? What will it cost across several countries, and what happens after the certificate arrives? Registration protects you only as far as the application is drafted well, so these choices matter more than the form-filling.

Typical moments to come to us: shortly before a product launch, when a first investor or customer asks for proof that the brand is protected, when the business starts selling in a new country, or when an earlier filing was made without advice and needs to be checked against how the business has developed. In each case the first conversation is about where the brand will actually be used over the next few years.

Our approach

We start from your business, not from a list of offices. Protection is territorial, so the right coverage follows where you manufacture, sell or plan to expand. A national or Benelux registration covers only the territory it names. An EU trade mark filed with the EUIPO covers all Member States in one application. The Madrid System lets you extend a base application or registration to other countries through WIPO. Often the answer is a combination.

Before filing, we confirm that the mark has been cleared. If not, we suggest a clearance first, because a refusal or opposition after filing costs more than a search. The Nice classification then frames the specification. We draft the goods and services deliberately: too broad invites a non-use challenge once the five-year grace period has passed, too narrow leaves your business exposed.

Our filing technology takes care of the legwork. Your EUIPO, BOIP and WIPO applications are prepared in one go, with goods and services taken from the EUIPO's harmonised terms where they fit. You confirm, and your attorney files. Nothing goes out without that sign-off. Where the harmonised terms fit, an EU application may qualify for EUIPO Fast Track.

Before you commit, the IP cost estimator shows official fees, professional fees and disbursements by jurisdiction, and compares scenarios, for example an EU mark alone against an EU mark plus two Madrid designations. Budgeting for multi-jurisdiction filings explains what drives these numbers.

What you get

You receive a filing strategy in plain terms: which offices, which classes, which specification and why, with a cost estimate. We then file, follow the application through examination, and tell you about any objection or opposition with a recommended response. The path from application to registration is described step by step in the Knowledge Base.

After registration the mark goes into our docket. Our portfolio and renewals technology follows renewal dates and other deadlines, every computed date is confirmed by a person, and you instruct us on renewals through a secure link. A registered mark must also be used: after five years, unused marks can be challenged.

We cannot promise a registration. Offices decide, and third parties may oppose. What we can do is reduce the avoidable risks and tell you early where the rest lies.

Consider a company that sells design lighting in the Netherlands and France and has just signed its first distributor in Germany. We advise an EU trade mark rather than separate national filings, draft the specification around lamps, lighting fixtures and the online shop, and show the cost of the EU route next to the alternative of filing in each country separately. The attorney signs off the application, we file it through the EUIPO interface, and it enters the docket. When the application is published, we report on whether anyone opposes. Nothing in this sequence depends on the client knowing the procedure.

Next step

Tell us the mark, the products or services, and the markets you care about. We will propose a route and a cost overview before anything is filed.

Schedule a meeting or contact us.